Sebastian Baez dominates the clay in Hamburg | ATP Tour

Hamburg

Baez dominates the court in Hamburg

He is the player with the most victories on the surface in 2024 along with Ruud

July 16, 2024

When the ATP Tour turns to clay, one of the players capable of securing the highest number of victories is Sebastián Báez. At least, that has been the case this season, where on Tuesday he became the leader in matches won on clay.

The No. 3 seed at the Hamburg Open defeated home favorite Dominik Koepfer 6-2, 6-3 in just 64 minutes in the first round. He thus equaled Casper Ruud’s 21 wins on clay and shared the lead in this section of the statistics.

On Tuesday, the Argentine showed why he is one of the great clay court specialists, with 83% of points won on his first serve, without conceding a single break opportunity and, above all, with the ability to convert 4 of the 8 break opportunities he enjoyed.

The No. 19 in the PIF ATP Rankings already knows what it’s like to win an ATP 500 title this season, having done so in Rio de Janeiro last February. He soon added the crown in Santiago de Chile, while in Cordoba, Buenos Aires and Geneva he has reached the quarter-finals or better.

This week in Hamburg, Báez is bidding to join Rafael Nadal (2013) and Carlos Alcaraz (2022) as the only players capable of linking several ATP 500 titles in the same season on clay (since the category was established in 2009).

But first, in the second round, he will have to overcome Dusan Lajovic to continue to aspire to such a record. The Serbian is coming off a 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3 win over the Brazilian Felipe Meligeni Alves from the qualifying round.

Argentine Marco Trungelliti will accompany Báez in the second round. After qualifying, he won on Tuesday against Sebastian Ofner, who had to retire with a score of 6-1, 4-3, after 68 minutes of play.

Trungelliti will next face No. 2 seed Holger Rune, who cruised past Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 6-4.

Jaume Munar came close to upsetting No. 5 seed Arthur Fils, but fell 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. The Frenchman will next play Laslo Djere, who beat Zizou Bergs 6-3, 7-6(4).

Did you know…?

Sebastian Baez will play his 30th match of the season on clay, where he has a 21-8 record so far.